Network communications takes place when interconnected devices send and receive digital data packets of information. Each packet contains a header with information pertaining to the device initiating the communication, the target for the communication, the position of the packet relative to other packets, error checking information, and data to be delivered by the packet. Network routers inspect the information in packet headers and compare that information to routing tables to determine what action should be done with any packet that has been received. If, for instance, the error checking information indicates that a transmission error has taken place, the router will issue a request for the packet to be resent. If the address information indicates that the packet should be sent on to another server, then the router adds its own information to the header and transmits the packet to the indicated server.
Presently, however, network routers do not consider the physical location of any given packet's source or destination. Any pathway taken by a packet is determined solely by the network information provided in the packet header, acted upon by each router in the pathway. Two devices, sitting next to one another in the same facility, may thus communicate through router and server connections that cause packets to move thousands of physical kilometers to make information available that otherwise might travel meters. The difference in packet path length between these two configurations affects the latency—that is, the delay between the sending of the package and its receipt, and the volume of network packet traffic placed on the network.
The number of network devices is rapidly proliferating. As these devices acquire highly dedicated functions such as sensors and cameras, they may transmit substantial amounts of data continuously. If all this data is transmitted conventionally, the capacity of the Internet is compromised due to packets taking transmission pathways much longer than actually necessary. The extra path lengths traversed by these packets degrades the performance of the network as a whole, requiring a variety of undesirable interventions—limiting transmissions, charging more for such transmissions, adding expensive new hardware resources to handle the increased volume, or discriminating among transmissions to give some “favored” status.
Existing network infrastructure routes packets of information from sending devices, through various receivers and routers, to destinations, typically in the form of servers and software connected to the network. Often these servers are housed in server farms, or data centers, where many servers share common power, cooling, security, and maintenance resources. A given data center, in addition to server resources, will operate an array of software and storage services, some general to the data center and other services proprietary to the clients operating the servers.
In the existing network traffic architecture, data centers are simply nodes connected to the network. Network packets—such as a message or a request for service—traverse a series of routers, from origin to destination. The architecture of this system is designed so that it does not matter where the points of origination and destination are—the strength of the system is that it does not matter to the network. Any packet with a well-formed destination address can be inspected and routed to its destination. This strength, however, comes at the expense of the total distance a packet must move to be delivered within the network. Two devices proximate to one another may communicate through a line of routers that are physically hundreds of kilometers away from the proximate devices. For simple communications, the latency caused by the distance traveled is often not noticeable. However, for real time communications such as high definition video, or when there are many such communications competing for service, such latency is not only noticeable but may compromise the quality of service.
The coming revolution in networked devices enabled by such technologies as various radio frequencies (RF) traversing fiber optic cable (RF-over-fiber), in which many devices such as sensors producing significant data streams may be readily integrated into a network, have the prospect to overwhelm the current architecture. One response is to abandon neutrality in the service of packets, choosing some for priority while limiting the rest, based on various schemes, including payment, decisions regarding importance, and the like. Any such decision, however, runs against the foundation of the Internet as one in which packets move at the capacity of the routing and server resources, not as a result of market interventions. Another response is a massive investment to supply more resources and upgrade existing resources, so that packet routing neutrality can be maintained. Such an investment, however, is prohibitively expensive.
What is desired is a method and system by which packets destined for devices physically proximate to the transmitting device are serviced and routed locally rather than being placed arbitrarily on a Wide Area Network (WAN), or creating communication technology necessary to service these packets that are placed on a WAN. The present invention addresses this desire.